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German church criticizes plan to add 'sexual diversity' to school curriculum

In this picture provided Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013 by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis talks with Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, who heads the German bishops' conference, during their private audience at the Vatican. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

The Associated Press
Published Friday, January 10, 2014 10:50AM EST

BERLIN -- Germany's Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches are criticizing a regional government's plan to introduce "acceptance of sexual diversity" to school curricula.

The plan, part of a wider overhaul drafted by the left-leaning government in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, is facing resistance in a traditionally conservative region.

Regional church branches issued a joint statement Friday cautioning against any "ideologization and indoctrination," not least "in the sensitive area of sexual identity and connected personal and family lifestyles."

The state education ministry says it's in discussions with the churches and other institutions on its curriculum plans and stressed that accepting other ways of life is "in no way questioning the institutions of family and marriage."

Education is a matter for state governments in Germany. The federal government had no comment.